Quit Wordsmithing The Opening - It will NEVER be right

I have heard time and time again about writers obsessing over the opening lines or paragraphs of their books. It's always the same thing, "I have to hook my reader! If I don't the agent or editor won't buy my book." Now, while part of this is true, I have to stress that the opening paragraph or line is not going to make or break your story.

When we talk about hooking the reader, we are talking about the beginning of the book. Not simply the first lines of the book. Sure, having a great opening is fantastic, we can always have a great line to get things rolling, but we want the full chapter to really suck us in.

This is, unfortunately, one more of those situations where authors are putting too much into what the agents and editors are saying on their blogs, in articles they writer, or in conversations they have with authors at conferences.

When we read your stories, we want to always want to keep reading. This is not just at the beginning but throughout the entire book. Think about the books you love. I'm talking about the ones you simply couldn't put down. Was it only the first line of the book? The first paragraph? Absolutely not, it was the entire story. The author continually added layers or twists that made you want to find out how the characters would get through this next obstacle.

I want you to take a look at the books you like a lot. I'm talking about the books that really hooked you. My bet is that it wasn't just the first line.

So, stop obsessing over that opening line. In fact, stop obsessing over those single sentences and words throughout your entire novel. Look at the whole thing as a big picture. Is this a story that people will want to keep reading? Is this story doing something ALL of the time to keep me wanting to turn pages? That is what you want.

Scott